"Based on a True Story": British History (exc. Royals and World Wars)
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- DirectorSaul DibbStarsKeira KnightleyRalph FiennesDominic CooperA chronicle of the life of 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was revered for her extravagant political and personal life.
- DirectorAlexander KordaStarsVivien LeighLaurence OlivierAlan MowbrayThe story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsRobert DonatGeoffrey AtkinsJean CadellThis biopic tells the story of the life of Pitt The Younger, who became Prime Minister of Great Britain at the age of twenty-four.
- DirectorPhilippa LowthorpeStarsJames PurefoyHugh BonnevillePhil DavisGeorge 'Beau' Brummel, a penniless but witty London gentleman, maintains a refined lifestyle with his loyal servant, cook Robinson. Only the friendship of the unpopular Hanoverian heir and Prince Regent, George, Prince of Wales, who acclaims Brummel's fashionable invention, dandy-ism, keeps the creditors from his back, even allows him unconditional credit. Alas a triangle with lady Julia and the equally dubious poet Lord Byron ends up costing him the prince's favor, so his debts come bite him with a vengeance.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsCharles LaughtonClark GableFranchot ToneFirst mate Fletcher Christian leads a revolt against his sadistic commander, Captain Bligh, in this classic seafaring adventure, based on the real-life 1789 mutiny.
- DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsRod SteigerChristopher PlummerOrson WellesFacing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo.
- DirectorMichael AptedStarsIoan GruffuddAlbert FinneyMichael GambonThe idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.
- DirectorHerbert WilcoxStarsAnna NeagleMichael WildingGladys YoungFlorence Nightingale struggled to gain access to battlefield hospitals during the Crimean War for her nursing staff. But by succeeding, she improved sanitary medical conditions for wounded soldiers, changing the course of medical history.
- DirectorTony RichardsonStarsTrevor HowardVanessa RedgraveJohn GielgudIn 1854, during the Crimean War, poor planning leads to the British Light Brigade openly charging a Russian artillery position with tragic consequences.
- DirectorNorman StoneStarsLaura FraserMichael PenningtonAndrew HarrisonStarring Laura Fraser, this film brings to life the story of Florence Nightingale's spiritual and emotional breakdown after the Crimean War: a moment of crisis, doubt, and failure that ultimately inspired her revolutionary career in medicine.
- DirectorJon AmielStarsPaul BettanyJennifer ConnellyIan KellyTorn between faith and science, and suffering hallucinations, English naturalist Charles Darwin struggles to complete 'On the Origin of Species' and maintain his relationship with his wife.
- DirectorBasil DeardenEliot ElisofonStarsCharlton HestonLaurence OlivierRichard JohnsonIn the Sudan, in 1884 to 1885, Egyptian forces led by British General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) defend Khartoum against an invading Muslim Army led by a religious fanatic, Mohammed Ahmed el Mahdi (Sir Laurence Olivier).
- DirectorCy EndfieldStarsStanley BakerJack HawkinsUlla JacobssonOutnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsSimon WardRobert ShawPeter CellierComplex family relationships, as well as a combat experience, form the personality of the future world-known politician.
- DirectorRoy Ward BakerStarsKenneth MoreRonald AllenRobert AyresOn her maiden voyage in April 1912, the supposedly unsinkable RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean.
- DirectorChristopher MenaulStarsRalph FiennesAlexander SiddigDenis QuilleyLawrence and Feisal go to argue for Arab independence at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
- DirectorClare BeavanNic StaceyStarsEd StoppardHenry GoodmanPaul McGannThe highs and lows of Alan Turing's life, tracking his extraordinary accomplishments, his government persecution through to his tragic death in 1954. In the last 18 months of his short life, Turing visited a psychiatrist, Dr. Franz Greenbaum, who tried to help him. Each therapy session in this drama documentary is based on real events. The conversations between Turing and Greenbaum explore the pivotal moments in his controversial life and examine the pressures that may have contributed to his early death. The film also includes the testimony of people who actually knew and remember Turing. Plus, this film features interviews with contemporary experts from the world of technology and high science including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. These contributors bring Turing's exciting impact up to the present day, explaining why, in many ways, modern technology has only just begun to explore the potential of Turing's ideas.
- DirectorRichard Curson SmithStarsMatt RyanJamie MartinCharles DanceThis movie is a BBC Four television dramatization of the events of the Wolfenden committee, whose report led to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Britain. Set in the 1950s, this movie depicts social attitudes towards homosexuality in Britain at that time, largely focusing on the committee's chair, Jack Wolfenden (Charles Dance), and his own homosexual son Jeremy (Sean Biggerstaff).
- DirectorJonathan JonesStarsShane AttwoollSean BarrettGreg Bennett
- DirectorNiall MacCormickStarsAndrea RiseboroughPhilip JacksonMichael GouldIn the 1950s, Margaret Thatcher works as a research chemist, begins her attempts to be selected for Parliament and meets her future husband Denis Thatcher.
- DirectorLouise HooperStarsAndrew BicknellTrevor BishopCrispin Bonham-CarterThe story of the Suez Crisis, how Britian invaded Egypt 50 years ago, making President Nasser a national hero and British prime Minister Anthony Eden a national disgrace.
- DirectorTrevor GriffithsStarsBrian CoxSinéad CusackDean DaviesThe dying Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, the man pivotal in the creation of Britain's National Health Service, reflects on his life and career.
- StarsSophie CooksonJames NortonEllie BamberStory of Christine Keeler, who found herself at the heart of a political sex scandal that rocked British government in the 1960s.
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsJames NesbittTim Pigott-SmithNicholas FarrellA dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.
- DirectorCharles McDougallStarsCiarán McMenaminBarry MullanPaul CampbellSunday tells the story of an infamous day in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland and how the events of that day were subsequently covered up by the British Government of the time. On Sunday 30th January 1972 a peaceful civil rights march against internment (imprisonment without trial), organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) ended with 13 marchers shot dead and 15 wounded. It became known throughout the world as Bloody Sunday. Told primarily from the perspective of the Derry community, juxtaposed with the British Army/state's preparations and reaction to the day, Sunday communicates the forensic and emotional truth of what happened.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorMichael BeckhamStarsMartin ShawJohn HurtRoger AllamIn 1974, a pair of pub bombings rocked Birmingham, England. The terrorist attacks killed dozens of innocent civilians, and wounded many more. But another tragedy took place in their aftermath: the wrongful conviction of six men for the crime. This docudrama follows researchers Chris Mullin (Sir John Hurt) and Ian McBride (Martin Shaw) as they investigate the case of the "Birmingham Six". As the pair uncover Police misconduct, they embark on a search for the true perpetrators of the mass murders.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsMichael FassbenderLiam CunninghamStuart GrahamIrish republican Bobby Sands leads the inmates of a Northern Irish prison in a hunger strike.
- StarsHugh GrantBen WhishawAlex JenningsBritish Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe is accused of conspiracy to murder his gay ex-lover and forced to stand trial in 1979.
- StarsMatthew MacfadyenSimon GreenallKevin McNallyA British politician fakes his own death.
- DirectorColin BarrStarsKenneth CranhamGina McKeeCelia ImrieA political drama about the last days of Harold Wilson's Labour government in the 1970s.
- DirectorPhyllida LloydStarsMeryl StreepJim BroadbentRichard E. GrantAn elderly Margaret Thatcher talks to the imagined presence of her recently deceased husband as she struggles to come to terms with his death while scenes from her past life, from girlhood to British prime minister, intervene.
- DirectorMichael SamuelsStarsPatricia HodgeJames FoxJohn StandingOn April 2, 1982, Britain went to war to regain the Falkland Islands. This movie is a gripping account of how Prime Minister Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher MP's government handled the biggest crisis in British foreign affairs since the Suez Canal. It tells the story of how Argentina, an ally of the British, fought the Conservative government and invaded the Falklands. This play charts the backroom maneuverings between Thatcher's government and the military, between the British and the Americans, and the Americans and the Argentinians that led to a breakdown in diplomacy, to war, and to Britain's eventual victory.
- DirectorJames KentStarsRoger AllamRoger Ashton-GriffithsCharlotte AspreyMargaret Thatcher's final days as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
- StarsMaxine PeakeBobby SchofieldRob JarvisThe story of Anne Williams' fight for the truth of her son's death.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsHelen MirrenMichael SheenJames CromwellAfter the death of Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II struggles with her reaction to a sequence of events nobody could have predicted.
- DirectorRichard LoncraineStarsMichael SheenDemetri GoritsasAdam GodleyA dramatization that traces former UK prime minister Tony Blair's relationships with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
- DirectorPhilip MartinStarsJulie WaltersEmma CambridgeDavid HaigA revealing biopic about politician Dr. Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (Dame Julie Walters).
- DirectorJohn DowerStarsChristian BrassingtonJonny SweetChristopher LeveauxA drama-doc about the early lives of Boris Johnson and David Cameron.
- DirectorRichard Curson SmithStarsSamantha MortonHenry Lloyd-HughesBen Lloyd-HughesCharting the rise of the Milliband brother, from their left-wing upbringing to their University days, using dramatized scenes and interviews with people who knew them.
- DirectorAlex HolmesStarsBertie CarvelMike SengelowSyreeta KumarAn accurate depiction of the events surrounding the United Kingdom hung parliament in 2010 and the aftermath involving the three main party leaders in attempting to form a government, despite contrasting policies and personal beliefs.
- DirectorToby HaynesStarsBenedict CumberbatchSarah BelcherMalcolm FreemanPolitical strategist Dominic Cummings leads a popular but controversial campaign to convince British voters to leave the European Union from 2015 up until the present day.
- DirectorJoseph BullmanStarsCharlotte RitchieOphelia LovibondGeorgie HenleyKaraoke, suitcases of wine, ambushing cake - this factual drama tells the story of Covid from inside 10 Downing Street as staff kicked back at lockdown breaching parties.